Bergstadt Platten: Discover History and Nature

Bergstadt Platten appeals to anyone who wants to combine historic townscapes, traces of mining and special landscape experiences. If you would like to discover culture and nature on your trip, you will find distinctive places here with very different characters. For planning your day, this means that the impressions change between the town centre, canal, nature monument and viewpoint, without losing the connection to the history of mining.

Historic Town Centre with Mining History

The historic town centre of Horní Blatná was declared an urban conservation area in 1992. The town was founded in 1534 as a Renaissance mining town; its origins were connected with tin ore deposits in the surrounding area. This history shapes the town not only through its appearance, but also through the preserved traces of mining activity. The town centre therefore provides the cultural starting point for further exploration of the landscape and its former economic importance.

Canals, Tunnels and Protected Nature

The Blatenský příkop was used for ore mining and as an energy source for industry in Horní Blatná. Today, it is a 12-kilometre-long artificial canal, most of which has been restored. This provides a tangible way to experience the connection between the landscape and mining history. Its length and largely restored course help place this historic landscape feature within your own exploration.

Another point of interest in the landscape is Vlčí jáma, a protected natural monument with remains of old collapsed tunnels and chambers. The Ledová jáma belonging to Vlčí jáma is 15 metres deep and retains snow all year round. Both places show how closely the natural features and the history of ore mining are connected here.

The Zitina vyhlídka on Blatenský vrch

The Zitina vyhlídka stands on Blatenský vrch at 1,044 metres above sea level. The 21-metre-high lookout offers a view of the surrounding natural landscape. Its history is also remarkable: the Zitina vyhlídka was built in 1912 by Horní Blatná’s winter sports club together with a restaurant and a tourist lodge. This means that the site combines a landscape experience with regional club history, without equating its historic use with today’s offerings. The elevation and the view give a visit a distinctly different focus from the enclosed historic town centre or the mining traces at Vlčí jáma.

Museum and St Lawrence Church

The town museum is located at House No. 127 in Horní Blatná, with a permanent exhibition on the history of the town and on the mining and processing of ores in the area around Horní Blatná. The exhibition thus explores precisely the themes encountered in the town centre, at the Blatenský příkop and at Vlčí jáma. St Lawrence Church was built in 1594 as a Protestant church in the Saxon Renaissance style and extensively remodelled in the late Baroque style in 1754–1755. Among its notable furnishings is a Renaissance pewter baptismal font cast in 1544 by the Jáchymov tin caster Leonhard Dürr. Today, the church occasionally opens its doors to anyone seeking peace, beauty or a moment of reflection. It thus complements the museum’s factual perspective with a place where architectural history and present-day tranquillity come together.

Transport Connections and Further Destinations

Horní Blatná is connected to Karlovy Vary by train and bus services. For further travel planning, you can also explore Nové Hamry, Münchhof, Lichtenstadt, Dallwitz, Breitenbach, Grasengrün, Poschetzau and Janessen.

For the higher-level travel overview: Karlovy Vary District.